


Don't Forget The Rook

by RealistTash



Series: Horse and Chariot [2]
Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, Henelope brotp, no merge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2020-09-25 10:23:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20375221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealistTash/pseuds/RealistTash
Summary: A continuation of my brotp involving more bitchy banter, more chess references, a missing/forgotten Hope, a confused Penelope, and a whole lot of 'wtf?'.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know I said I wasn't going to add more to this, but I couldn't help myself.

Penelope stares at the last of her boxes, unwilling to open it, because if she does then... this move is official. 

She has to admit, she's actually enjoying Belgium. The school is better, aka no ridiculous mythological monsters that appear to be long forgotten, and as she said to Josie, she doesn't have to deal with werewolves or vampires, so bonus. 

But Josie? Fuck, how she misses her. 

There's no way of contacting Josie other than through letters, and Penelope is pretty sure she wouldn't read them anyway, so what would be the point? Josie's plea of 'don't go' was said in an emotional moment, she didn't really mean it, would've gone back to treating Penelope like she was evil incarnate. 

Because that's what Josie does. 

Penelope gets her alone, Josie realises she's more than Lizzie's twin, Lizzie does or says something, or acts in a certain, spoiled way, and Josie is back at the beginning. 

It's... infuriating. If she could just see and stick with it, maybe Penelope wouldn't be here in the first place.

No. No, leaving was the best thing for both of them. It's the best thing for her heart, for it to shatter into pieces in one go and have the chance to rebuild it, rather than put some tape over one piece just for another bit to tear off. 

Fuck it, enough dwelling. The deed is done and there's no going back. Not yet at least.

She tackles the last box. 

There's nothing special about the last box, nothing with sentimental value as far as she knows. Some candles, a chess board, a random rook.

Wait, what?

Penelope frowns as she pulls the piece out, before she checks her board. Nope, all of the pieces are there. Her brow furrows as she examines it, wonders where the hell it came from, shakes her head and thinks no more of it as she places it aside and finishes unpacking.

-

It takes another week for her to look at it again. She doesn't even know why, but something draws her to it. Irritation maybe, at not knowing where it came from, just... there, on a shelf, looking lost and lonely and begging for Penelope to remember what it is, why it somehow feels important. 

So she performs a memory spell, something she'd learnt before she left, so she could bring her memories from her possessions alive, watch them play out if she ever forgot how she got them or if they were from an important moment in her life. Watch the happier times with her and Josie from the pictures of them.

But, nothing. She casts the spell, and it's blank. A void. Like the memories have been ripped away from her brain, and all that is left is emptiness. 

She laughs to herself. That's impossible.

Isn't it?

Okay, now she's intrigued. 

Spell after spell after spell. Lost memory spells, tracking spells, everything she can think of. All futile. 

Until... until she purses her lips, tilts her head in wonder, figures it's impossible, but stranger things have happened. Because maybe this isn't about her. Maybe this chess piece is something else. 

'To Find a Lost Voice'.

Well, here it goes.

At first, silence. Penelope frowns. Maybe she did the spell wrong. Maybe she mispronounced a word, or the ingredients weren't right, or-

“Penelope?”

Penelope spins around in shock, her heart racing at the foreign voice as she looks around her room, but it's as empty as it was two minutes ago. Okay, she's officially imagining things now.

“Penelope. Over here.”

“What the fuck?” She grumbles to herself, tries to follow the sound to no use. 

“The mirror, P.”

P? Nobody has ever called her 'P'. Still, she looks towards her mirror, steps back in a gasp when she sees a girl inside. She squints as she looks at the amused face in front of her. “Who... what...”

The girls huffs, “P. I need you to listen to me.”

“How do you know my name?” She frowns again, “who are you? Wait, am I high?” 

A laugh. “Probably, knowing you. Look, Penelope, this is serious, okay? You remember Malivore, right?” Penelope nods uselessly. “You know how anything that got thrown into the pit wiped memories from existence?” Another nod. “Well,” she rubs the back of her neck, “here I am.” 

Penelope cocks her head in accusation, “Malivore made monsters forgotten, you don't look like a monster.”

“Depends who you ask,” she smirks, “listen, P, I need you to help me, you're the only one that knows I'm in here. Fuck, I don't even know how long I've been here. How long have you been in Belgium?”

“How do you know here I am? Are you a stalker or something? 'Cause that's pretty creepy, dude.” 

The girl bristles, “what? No! I'm your... okay, never thought I'd be saying this, but I'm your best friend. Hope. Hope Mikaelson.” 

“Mikaelson? As in-” Hope nods. “There is no Hope Mikaelson.”

“Exactly! Because I jumped into the pit to stop Malivore and now none of you remember me! Come on, P, I know you're smarter than this. Put the pieces together.” 

Penelope's jaw hangs in offence, “well excuse me for being a little confused that there's a girl in my mirror who claims to be someone that doesn't exist. So you say you're my best friend, tell me something nobody else knows about me.”

“Other than Josie?” Penelope nods, because that's a fair point. Josie knows pretty much everything about her. “Alright, uh, when you were eight you jumped off of a swing and landed wrong. You broke your arm in two places, got that scar on your eyebrow, and also got a scar on your thigh that is, and I quote, 'so cool because it looks like a flame and it's like fate wanted you and Josie to-”

A fierce blush coats Penelope's cheeks, “even if you are my best friend, why the fuck would I ever tell you that?” 

“You were pretty high at the time,” Hope giggles, before she turns serious. “Look, P, I could tell you so many things that would prove this to you, but I need your help. I need you to go back to Mystic Falls and get everything you can on Mali- shit.” Penelope blinks. Hope sighs. “Alaric burned everything.” 

Penelope chuckles, switching the confusion over to Hope. “What? You think Dorian doesn't have a copy of everything hidden away?” She shrugs, “I know where he keeps his stash.” 

“Then why hasn't he found something with my name on it?”

“I guess because he had no reason to look at it? Whoa, wait, rewind, you jumped into the Malivore pit? Jumped? As in, willingly went? Are you fucking insane?”

Hope lifts her shoulders, “eh, nobody said I make smart decisions.” 

“Yeah,” Penelope scoffs, “that was obvious when you decided to date that mop head Land- uh, how do I know that?” 

A squeal causes Penelope to cover her ears with a sharp glare at Hope. “You're starting to remember me. Think, P. Think about Miss Mystic Falls, the night you left, think of who won it.” 

Penelope's brow creases, “it should've been Josie.” Hope rolls her eyes. “But... but it was you.” It must be the memory spell she cast coinciding with this one, seeing Hope bringing them forward, it's the only possible way she can think of that would allow her to begin remembering Hope. “Hey! If you're my best friend, why did you run against her? I must've told you how much she wanted it.” 

“I guess, I guess I just got lost in the moment. Lizzie can be... pretty convincing.” Penelope grunts. “I know, I suck, I'm sorry. But, can I apologise when I get out of here please?” Penelope flops onto her bed, snippets of memories coming back to her as Hope hesitates with her next words. “She... she wasn't okay after you left, you know? Her and Lizzie got into this huge fight, she was closed off, spent all of her time alone, in your room actually. She wasn't okay, P.” 

“You saw it yourself, Hope. It was one step forward, two steps back-”

“She got shot.”

Penelope bolts up, “what? How could you let that happen?”

Hope gawks, “oh I do apologise, how exactly was I supposed to stop her from jumping in front of a bullet to save Lizzie when we had no powers?” Penelope groans. “Yeah, no powers. Zilch. I couldn't even transform into a- oh. Fuck.” 

“What? What's the matter?”

“Raf. He's stuck in wolf form. He can't change back without me there.”

A beat of silence surrounds them as Penelope bites her lip. “Is that supposed to help persuade me to want to bring you back?” Hope glares and she chuckles. “Okay, alright. What's with the chess piece anyway? That shit has been bugging me for a week.” 

Hope grins, “I gave it to you before you left so you'd remember me. Guess it worked out in my favour, albeit a little unexpectedly. We're the rook and the knight, P. It's our thing.” 

“Ugh, who came up with that crap?”

“You did,” Hope laughs. “You started teaching me how to play, beat my ass every time.” 

Penelope smirks, “and I always will. So, how do we get you back to the land of the living? Because as much fun as I'm having, I'd quite like my mirror back.” 

Hope scratches the back of her neck with a tilt of her lips, nervous, “well, we're going to need a siphoner.” 

“Of course we are.”


	2. Chapter 2

The plane ride was a lot of fun. 

Truly. 

Penelope is pretty sure the entire cabin thinks she's crazy and she was half expecting people to be waiting to take her to an institute after Hope kept talking to her through any reflection and she kept telling her to shut up or people would think she's crazy. 

Apparently she's not only the only one who remembers Hope, but also the only one that can hear and see her.

Maybe she is crazy.

Thankfully, Penelope only got stares of wariness and unease as she stepped off the plane and made her way to arrivals. 

Hope's still doing it now while she's in the cab back to Mystic Falls. Any time Penelope catches the rear view mirror, Hope smirks and begins talking and Penelope can only growl under her breath because she knows Hope's doing it to piss her off at this point. 

The gates slowly close in on her as they drive to the school, and Hope can only give her one last remark as she exits the cab and stares up at the thick steel. “You got this, P.” 

Penelope rolls her eyes at the weak thumbs up Hope adds to the statement. She takes a breath, and finally makes her way up the path towards the door. 

She knows classes will be full at this time, with the exception of a few students with free periods, so it doesn't take her much effort to get into the school and sneak through the halls unnoticed as she makes her way to Josie and Lizzie's room. 

God, how she hopes she won't-

“Are you going to actually knock or stand staring at the door all day?” Penelope jumps at the sudden voice, because she's pretty sure there are no reflections in the hall. “The trophy, P.”

Rolling her eyes, Penelope huffs at Hope's distorted, gold face. “You look better that way.” Hope glares back. Her nerves, however, do drop a little from Hope's snark and she knocks, even if just to prove Hope wrong. 

“Oh you have got to be kidding me.”

Penelope's nose scrunches with an added smirk as she looks at the exasperated expression she's greeted with. “Hey, Lizzie. Nice to see you, too.”

Lizzie snarls and leans against the door frame. “Look, Josie's doing just fine without you, so if this is some evil scheme to try and get her back-”

“I'm not here for Josie.” Okay so that... didn't come out how she meant it to, and if Lizzie's outraged shock is anything to go by, it was much worse. “I mean, the reason I'm here isn't because of Josie, it's about something else and I,” she gulps down the bile in her throat, throws her pride out of the window, and grits her teeth. “I need your help.”

She regrets everything when Lizzie hums in glee.

-

Penelope feels likes she been explaining the situation for hours and nothing is registering. Lizzie has gone through every reaction Penelope expects from a person being told somebody they have never heard got erased from their memory and is using Penelope to get back to the real world. 

She once again believes she might genuinely be crazy. 

“Will you just let me do the spells on you and see if it works? Hope was better at explaining why we need a siphoner and I'm sick of hearing her voice in my fucking head.”

“Hey!”

“Hope, shush.”

Lizzie blinks. “Okay. Penelope, I never thought I'd express genuine concern for you, but I've been working a lot on my mental health and I feel obligated to ask; are you sure you're doing alright?”

Pride hits her chest at Lizzie's confession, but she's still exhausted so her head flings back in a groan and she feels like crying. “Lizzie, please! Please just let me try the spells and if it doesn't work I'll go and check myself in somewhere.” Lizzie still looks doubtful. “Come on. Don't you find it weird that you can't remember who won Miss Mystic Falls? Who you gave your mother's dress to instead of Josie.” She bites her lip. “What about the time we got brain infected by those worms? It didn't do anything to you because of the bracelet. Do you seriously think Landon of all people saved the school by himself?”

“Good point,” Lizzie nods. “Alright, Satan, but if you even think about-”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” 

Penelope casts the spells in the same order she cast them on herself, and as soon as she finishes the last one, Hope obviously couldn't control herself. “Lizzie?”

“Holy shit!” Lizzie tumbles back on the chair she was on and falls to the floor, her legs in the air and Penelope tries her hardest to control her giggles as Hope full on laughs. 

Lizzie glares up at her and she scratches the back of her neck. “At least we know I don't need to be committed.” 

Hope pipes up from the mirror, “can we focus on me now?”

Once Lizzie stands after shoving Penelope's helping hand away, she looks into the mirror curiously, “I still don't know you.”

Although Penelope can see the momentary hurt cross Hope's features, it's quickly schooled. “It takes a minute. You need to think about the blank parts of your memory and try to fill them in, they'll slowly come back.” Her voice lowers and Penelope can tell the memory she's going to relive is going to be a private moment between the two of them but she doesn't really have anywhere else to go. “Remember that time I got really overwhelmed and couldn't control my powers? Everything in the room began to rattle and you took me out into the woods-”

“So you could scream it out,” Lizzie grins. “Hope. Andrea. Mikaelson!” 

Penelope clasps her hands together, “great. Can you explain why we need her?”

Hope winces, “actually...”

“Hope, what the fuck?”

“I just wanted you back, P,” Hope defends, “we missed you. And I wasn't totally lying. We need a siphoner to make the rest of the world remember me because of the amount of magic they can store.” 

Penelope locks her jaw and sighs in frustration, “Hope... when you get out of that pit I'm going to fucking kill you.” 

Hope nods, “that's fair. Can you come and get me out first though? You need the spell that retrieves a lost soul, but you need something that was important to me to focus on the target or you'll bring Clark back, too.” They both tilt their heads. “Right, you don't remember him either. He's not important. Just go to my room and take something. The spell is in a book in Alaric's office under lock and key. It could easily be manipulated to bring about a zombie apocalypse.” 

“Let me guess,” Penelope drawls, “the spell requires blood?” Hope winces. “Typical. Okay, I'll go and get something from your room. Lizzie, it'll be easier if you go to Alaric's office. I can't afford for anybody to see me.” 

“By anyone you mean Josie, right?” Penelope stares blankly. “Are you seriously going to try and avoid her?”

She shrugs, “you said it yourself, she's doing just fine without me. We do the spell, get Hope out, restore everyone's memories, then I'm on the next flight back to Belgium.” Lizzie gapes. “I've hurt her enough.”

Lizzie shakes her head, “if you really believe that, you're more of an idiot than I thought. How do you think she'll feel if she finds out you came back and didn't want to see her?”

“I do want to see her, Lizzie. Jesus. You think I haven't missed her every single second since I left? But I don't want to come and blow up her life, it's not fair to her.” 

The rooms goes quiet before Lizzie shakes her head sadly, “damn, Park. I never liked you, but I was always inspired by how brave you were. Guess I was wrong.”

-

Penelope spends a while in Hope's room looking through her possessions to find something strong enough for the spell to work. Hope's busy guiding Lizzie through Alaric's office to find the spell book so she tries to remember if there's anything in here that her dad gave her or if there are any-

A light bulb clicks as she remembers the family photos Hope has. She doesn't want to spend too long going through them, not wanting to invade Hope's privacy more than she has to. 

“That one was always my favourite.” Hope popping up doesn't phase Penelope, too busy looking at the photo currently in her hand. “Lizzie's got the book, she's on her way back.” 

Penelope glances at the time with a sigh, “classes are almost out. Tell her I'll meet her there.” 

“Penelope,” Hope begs. 

“Leave it, Hope.” 

“Pen,” she says again, “I'm really sorry I didn't help with Josie as much as I promised I would.” 

She shrugs, “you got close to Lizzie, and she needed somebody to be there for her too. Even if she didn't know it at the time.” She turns to Hope's reflection, “you're pretty nice to have around.” Hope beams. “You know, when you're not being a pain in my ass.” Hope scowls. 

-

Lizzie runs in to the pit out of breath. “I'm sorry,” she wheezes, “Josie caught me and kept questioning where I was going.”

Penelope's brow raises, “and?”

“Don't worry, Satan, she doesn't know you're here. Which is still a ridiculous choice to make in my honest opinion and-”

“Do you have the spell?” Lizzie looks down right offended that Penelope cuts her off, especially after she was trying to be supportive in her own Lizzie way, and hands the book over. Penelope flips to the spell and pulls out the photo and a knife. “You siphoned, right? Because I don't want you siphoning from me.”

“Yes, yes. We all know the only person allowed to do that is Josie. Hurry up.”

Penelope chuckles. “You ready?” Lizzie opens her mouth again, but snaps it shut at Penelope's glare before she holds her hand out. “Hope,” Penelope asks the portable vanity mirror while Hope looks on in anticipation, “are you sure about this? It'll ruin the picture.”

Hope smiles, both happy and woeful, “I like to think of it as my family helping me.” Then she winks, “all of you.” 

Lizzie gags, “don't get gross on us now.” 

“Yeah,” Penelope adds, “that was an awful experience I never want to repeat.” 

Hope pouts before Penelope first makes a cut along Lizzie's palm, and then follows with her own. The combined blood drips onto the photo as they recite the spell, their eyes slowly growing wide as Hope all but blurs away and their own faces replace her.

The mirror is snapped out of Penelope's hand before she has time to react, and Lizzie strokes down the glass. “There you are. Oh how I missed you and- oh my god! My hair is a mess.”

“Lizzie,” Penelope hisses. Lizzie's brow quirks as she spins the mirror and Penelope flinches. “Okay but in my defence I haven't been able to look in a mirror in two days. What's your excuse?”

“Wait- where's Hope? Shouldn't she be out by-”

“Ladies? Little help over here?” 

They both spin to see a hand and half a face attempting to crawl out of the middle of the pit, rush towards her as Penelope pulls Hope's arm enough for her other one to be free so Lizzie can pull at that. 

Hope collapses on them when they give one last hard tug. “Hope!”

“I'm sorry,” Hope sputters through the dirt, “kind of difficult to control my body when you're trying to yank my arms off, Lizzie.”

“Oh, well, you're welcome. Honestly so ungrateful.” 

Penelope recovers first and climbs out of the pit, brushes the dirt off of her clothes and clears her throat, “right, well, that's my part done so-”

Arms wrap around her tightly as Hope squeezes her, tucks her head into Penelope's neck. “Please stay for a while, P. Even without the pit it still feels too long since I last saw you. And I have so many things to tell you about my time in there and-”

“Hope,” she halts her, “I can't.”

Hope pulls back in determination and grips harshly at Penelope's shoulders, ignores Penelope's amused grin. “Penelope Park, I shoved my way into your life and I won't let you push me back out of it! It's not a nice feeling being alone. So get your fine ass back to Mystic Falls where you belong.” 

In the background, Lizzie blinks rapidly. Penelope smirks, “always knew you had a thing for me.” 

“I'm serious, P. I miss you. We all do.”

Lizzie puts her hand up, “I don't.” Hope glares. “What?”

Penelope takes Hope's hands in her own, “I'm going home.”

“You are home.” 

She repeats herself, “I'm going home.” 

Hope deflates, “fine. Thanks for being my knight.” 

“Always.”

-

The three make their way back to the school so Penelope can grab her bag. Praises herself for remembering to keep it in Hope's room on the off-chance she'd run into Josie. 

Lizzie heads back to her room to quote, unquote, 'refresh' before she performs the memory spell with Hope and Penelope says her goodbyes while Hope asks her to stay again. When she eventually manages to drag Hope away from her, she tells her to keep in touch.

But she doesn't make it through the door of the building while she's sneaking back out. Of course she doesn't. Of-fucking-course she doesn't.

“That's it? You're going to leave without saying goodbye? Again?”

Penelope closes her eyes, grip on the door handle falling, and turns slowly to see an angry Josie Saltzman. “Lizzie told you.”

Josie shakes her head, “I didn't give her much of a choice. I only know one person who wears that perfume, Penelope. What the hell? What are you doing back?”

She bites her lip, “I had to help Hope with something. I was hoping you never found out.”

“Why?” Josie pauses with a frown. “Wait, who's Hope?”

“You'll find out in a few minutes,” she mumbles, but Josie doesn't relent her scowl. “I didn't want to upset you.”

Josie scoffs, “then you shouldn't have left in the first place.”

Penelope's brows knit together, “you weren't exactly giving me any reason to stay, Josie.”

“I told you not to go,” Josie's voice raises, fists beginning to ball up at her sides. 

But Penelope sputters, “only after you knew I was leaving!”

“That doesn't mean I didn't mean it.” 

“Fuck, JoJo. I don't know what you want from me.” Penelope's breath becomes unsteady. “I tried so hard to make us work. I fought so much for you but nothing ever changed. I admit breaking up with you was a truly shitty thing to do, but I thought you'd fight for me just as much as I did and it hurt. It hurt when you only wanted me because you were feeling insecure or jealous and at first I could deal with that, but it became too much.” Josie stays silent and tears roll freely down Penelope's cheeks. “It broke my heart when I moved to Belgium, but it was better than letting you chip away at it.” 

Josie works her jaw, “so it's all my fault?”

Penelope groans, “that's not what I'm saying. I'm not blaming you for any of it, but can you honestly tell me that if I told you all of this you would've tried to meet me in the middle?” Josie's eyes flit to the floor. “Exactly. What was the point in me asking something I already knew the answer to? Me leaving was best for both of us.”

A scuffle from the top of the stairs pulls Penelope's attention away and she mouths 'don't you have a spell to cast?' at Lizzie and Hope while Josie continues to look at the floor. 

She swallows, “so if that's all, I'll be out of your life again.”

As she turns to grab the handle again, Josie's quiet voice flows through the hall, “if I asked you to stay so we can work things out, would you? I don't want you to leave on these terms again, Pen.”

And there's no hesitation in Penelope's tone when she swiftly answers, “yes.” But before anything else can happen, a wave flows through Penelope, and the next thing she knows, Josie collapses to the floor. “JoJo?” She rushes to Josie's side to check her over. “Okay, I got you.” She picks Josie up in her arms and carries her up to Hope's room where she and Lizzie both look guilty. “What happened?”

“Uh... it's a side effect from the spell.” Lizzie pouts as Penelope lays Josie on the bed and she takes over caring for her. 

“It's just while their memories come back. Their brain has to reprogramme or something because they're going to come back all at once. That's why it didn't effect you or Lizzie. I'm sure it won't take long.”

It doesn't, because not a minute later Josie's eyes flutter open. “Pen?”

Lizzie glances up from her spot and Penelope can see the hurt in her eyes that she wasn't Josie's first thought, but also the acceptance because Hope had told her on the plane that they were trying to be their own people already. She switches places with Lizzie and runs her fingers through Josie's hair. “Yeah, JoJo?”

“Stay.”

It isn't a question. “Okay,” she whispers, “okay, I'll stay.”

Hope squeals down her ear and it's only while Penelope covers it and grimaces that Josie seems to fully be aware of what happened. “Hope!”

“In the flesh,” she smirks, “literally.” Lizzie hits her. “Oh, Pen, if you're staying we'll have to go back and get your stuff from Belgium. Your room has been let out since Josie stopped staying in there.” Penelope cocks a smug brow in Josie's direction. “So you can stay in here. Oh my god this is so exciting.”

Penelope leans down to whisper, “I take back everything I said.”

Josie's nose scrunches, “no you don't.” 

Nothing stops Hope from babbling, not even Lizzie telling her that they 'get it' in annoyance. “P, P! The rook and the knight, roomies for life.”

Alarm washes over Penelope as Josie giggles. “No. No way. Can I please forget you again?”

“Nope. You can't take it back. You're stuck with me forever.”

Hope continues to get excited in the background with Lizzie's frustration growing, but Penelope can't see anything past Josie's warm eyes. 

They've got a long road ahead of them. A lot of feelings to talk about and issues to resolve, but this time she's confident they'll find a good balance. 

She knows it will all work out in the end like it was always meant to. 

“And we can play nightly chess until I beat you and-

“Hope!” Lizzie finally screams. “Please, for all of our sanities, shut the fuck up.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think.


End file.
